The inauthentic Markan conclusion: In the secondary Mark,
Hamburg, Außenalster16:8-20, metaphysical propositions and an Ascension are added, which show Jesus as an inhabitant of the heavenly world.
This second narrative level, the god level of Homer and Virgil, had been deliberately avoided by Mark, as well as by the Roman poet Lucan (39-65 AD).
Church of St. John 11: Only later do the women remember
Hamburg, Außenalsterof the proclamation mission that the evangelist fulfills in their place. The risen Jesus will meet the disciples in Galilee, 16,7.
The resurrection, the new life does not take place in religiously prominent places, but in the everyday world, for the disciples in Galilee.
Church of St. John 10: The alchemical art of women
Hamburg, Außenalsteris only enough to preserve the body for the afterlife and a later resurrection. To their surprise, however, Jesus returns to this world of the women and the disciples.
Jesus is resurrected, he is already alive again. Although Jesus is not present, the women can clearly see this.
The young man on the right is the unmistakable sign. The women are horrified and cannot immediately pass on their experiences to other Christian groups.
Church of St. John 9: The tradition of the apparitions to the women,
Hamburg, Außenalsteras handed down by Mark, must be older than the tradition of the apparitions to Peter and the disciples cited by Paul, from which it was later displaced.
Mark reports the resurrection, interestingly enough, not as an event, but as a message, as a message of the women of the Anabaptist Christians, to whose tradition the Easter event belongs.
Church of St. John 8: While the women want to make Jesus ready
Hamburg, Außenalsterfor the afterlife, he returns to their reality on this side. The new creation has already begun.
Jesus is completely rehabilitated after his deep fall and proves to be more powerful than his enemies in the resurrection.
Mark 16:8 reports the silence of the women about the resurrection. Mark quotes a tradition that knows the belief in the resurrection as a special tradition of Christian women’s groups (Mary).
Church of St. John 7: The women are already directly related
Hamburg, Hotel Vier Jahreszeitento the resurrection event. Their request to prepare the corpse with the usual materials for the commemoration of the dead or for the journey into the afterlife shows Jesus the appropriate earthly reverence, 15:47-16:1.
The preparations of the women already point to the expected new creation. But what the women expect only for the future has already become reality.
Church of St. John 6: Jesus can be buried according to
Hamburg, Junfernstiegcustom. The deprivation of the civil rights of honor, which was connected with the punishment of crucifixion, is cancelled, 15:45.
By burying Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea is already higher in the divine plan of salvation than Pilate.
Joseph creates with the hermetic closure of the tomb, 15:46, the -alchemical- precondition for the new creation, the subsequent resurrection.
Church of St. John 5: Now we see a follower of Jesus
Hamburg, Hotel Atlanticin the rank of a councilor, Joseph of Arimathea, who confesses Jesus and requests Jesus’ body, 15:42-43.
Now Pilate comes into the picture, again higher in rank, who contrary to custom releases Jesus’ body for burial, 15:44-45.
Pilate’s character here is quite different from that of the Jewish-Christian Passion tradition. He is no longer the fickle despot dependent on the moods of the unpredictable and easily influenced mob.
Pilate is here a sovereign ruler who makes an appropriate and reverent decision.
Church of St. John 4: The Roman centurion is the first person
Hamburg, Außenalsterto put aside his contempt and to grant Jesus a relationship with the divine: a Son of God he calls him, 15:39. Now Mark points out to the reader that Jesus did not die as lonely as it seemed.
The women disciples participated in his suffering at a measured distance, 15:40-41.47. The women, as symbols of fruitfulness, point to new life, to Easter, just as the words of suffering pointed to the Passion.
Church of St. John 3: If God appears in the rank here immediatly beside nature
Old Hamburg, Reimerstwiete, 1989this means: Mark does not have God as an acting person in mind, but the divine forces in nature, which cause the death of man when he leaves and are worshipped in temples as forces of nature.
We already know that God as the highest person with his plan of salvation stands behind the events of suffering and resurrection.
Church of St. John 2: We already know from 15:33 that the sun
Old Hamburg, Nikolaifleet, 1989returns after the ninth hour. The God-forsakenness of Jesus from 15:34 is cancelled in 15:38: the temple, the earthly residence of God, indicates the mourning, the compassion of God.
Just as the Jew tears his garment as a sign of mourning, or at least visibly tears a piece of it, so, as a sign of divine mourning, there is a huge tear in the temple curtain, the earthly garment of God.
The grief is so great that the extremely precious fabric tears in full length and becomes worthless.
The Passion Tradition of the Church of St. John: Mark contrasted
Old Hamburg, Nikolaifleet, 1989the constant descent over many stations to the absolute earthly low with the Passion Tradition of the Christians of St. John with the ascent again.
The restoration of the earthly honor of Jesus, 15:38-47, is followed by the restoration of the supernatural glory of Jesus, 16,1-8. Just as Jesus sinks lower and lower in his descent and his tormentors are of lower and lower rank, the ascent runs in reverse order from the lower to the higher rank.
Church of St. James 3: Then hope sprouts up again for Jesus. Pilate
Hamburg, Katharinenkircheholds him innocent, 15:2-5, and the people ask for a show of mercy for the feast, 15:8.
But hope is short-lived; Jesus’ suffering continues, first the mental: the crowd is incited and turns away from Jesus, 15:13. Pilate is cowardly and submits to the will of the crowd, 15:15.
Then follows the physical suffering: Jesus is condemned, mocked, beaten, crucified. Also the passers-by mock him, at last the fellow crucified. Even nature (the sun) turns away, 15:16-33.
One cannot sink any lower. Jesus dies, 15:37. End of the Passion, end of the Jewish-Christian part of the Passion.
Church of St. James 2: In Gethsemane the disciples James, John and Peter,
Hamburg, Universitythe progenitors of the Jewish Christians, the Baptist Christians, and the Petrine Christians, are of no help to Jesus, 14:32-42. When Jesus is taken captive, all the disciples flee, 14:50.
The Jewish authorities also oppose Jesus, 14:53-65, and while Jesus confesses, Peter denies, 14:66-72. Jesus cannot be arrested until the disciples flee, he cannot be handed over to the Gentiles until Peter has also turned away.
To the physical suffering of Jesus comes the spiritual suffering, because no one makes the attempt to help him. Everyone only tries to save his own skin.
With the Passion tradition of the Church of St. James, 14:26-15:37,
Hamburg, City HallMark narrates Jesus’ suffering as an expulsion from the people of God, consisting of the disciples and the Jewish authorities, and from the human community in general.
If at first it seemed that only Judas would leave the solidarity with Jesus, Jesus now announces the apostasy of all disciples, 14:27, even Peter will deny Jesus, 14:31.